Kaogu 2009-3
Mai Contents
Inner Mongolian Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (IMICRA), Excavation in
the Xindianzi Cemetery in Heringer, Inner Mongolia ----------------------------------(3)
IMICRA, Excavation in the Cemetery on the Xiaoshuang City-site in Liangcheng County, Inner
Mongolia--------------------------------------------------------------------(15)
IMICRA, Excavation in the Xinzhouyaozi Cemetery in Liangcheng County, Inner Mongolia
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (28)
Wu Xianzhu et al., Discovery and Study of Human Fossils in the Three Gorges Region, China
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (49)
Zheng Wei, Restudy of the Ritual Bronzes from High-ranking Aristocratic Tombs at the Turn
from the Western Zhou to the Eastern Zhou ---------------------------------------------------------- (57)
Su Kui, A Study of the Bronze Mirror Inscription “其师命长” ----------------------------------- (64)
Wang Zhongshu, Again on the Date and Tomb-owner of the Takamatsuzuka Tumulus of Japan
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (73)
Chen Zhida, On the Date of the Eastward Export of Xinjiang Hotan Jade to the Hinterland
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (81)
Xing Xiaofeng et al., A Tone Test and Preliminary Study of the Jade and other Precious Stone Objects
from the Lajia Site, Qinghai ------------------------------------------------------------------ (83)
Abstract:
Inner Mongolian Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (IMICRA), Excavation in the Xindianzi Cemetery in Heringer, Inner Mongolia
KEY WORDS: Inner Mongolia Xindianzi cemetery Eastern Zhou period early nomadic ethnic group
ABSTRACT: In 1999, 56 tombs were excavated in the Xindianzi cemetery in Heringer County, Inner Mongolia. They yielded large quantities of bronze, stone, pottery, bone and gold artifacts. In shape the tombs fall into three types: earthen pits, caves, and pits with caves, and largely contain animal victims. They go back to the late Spring-and-Autumn period for the majority, some burials possibly to the early Warring States period. The funeral bronzes belong mostly to the common types prevailing in the Great Wall zone during the Eastern Zhou. In cultural content the cemetery shares commonness with an archaeological culture in the Daihai and Ordos regions, but certain difference still exists. Judged by the animal victims occurring in a large number and the results of a diet analysis of the human bones and a test of the human limb bones, the cemetery owners must have engaged in rather developed nomadic economy.
IMICRA, Excavation in the Cemetery on the Xiaoshuang City-site in Liangcheng County, Inner Mongolia
KEY WORDS: Inner Mongolia cemetery on the Xiaoshuang city-site Easternn Zhou period early nomadic ethnic group
ABSTRACT: In 1996 and 2003, 15 tombs were excavated in the cemetery on the Xiaoshuang city-site in Liangcheng County, Inner Mongolia. The work brought to light rather rich funeral objects in pottery, bronze, bone, stone, gold and jade. The tombs are largely pits with caves, with earthen pits occurring occasionally, and animal victims were seen in most cases. This is the first time archaeologists have discovered an Eastern Zhou period cemetery of the early nomadic ethnic group on the southern shore of Daihai Lake. The cultural content features the prevalence of pit-with-cave tombs and the entombment of the cord-mark jar, tiger design plaque, cloud pattern plaque and bronze knife set as the main combination of funeral objects. The available archaeological discoveries suggest that this cemetery belongs to one of the three archaeological cultures existing in the Daihai region during the Eastern Zhou period.
IMICRA, Excavation in the Xinzhouyaozi Cemetery in Liangcheng County, Inner Mongolia
KEY WORDS: Inner Mongolia Xinzhoyyaozi cemetery Eastern Zhou period early nomadic ethnic group
ABSTRACT: In 2003, 69 tombs were excavated in the Xinzhouyaozi cemetery in Liangcheng County, Inner Mongolia, with rich pottery, bronze, bone and stone objects brought to light. The graves are all earthen pits pointing to the north and south and are furnished with head niches, second-tier platforms and animal victims. They go back roughly to the time from the late Spring-and-Autumn to the Warring States period. Judged by the grave goods and the species of the animal victims, the cemetery owners must have been engaged mainly in animal husbandry with farming as a subordinate economy. Anthropological research results suggest that they comprised two populations with north Asian and ancient central Plains physical features respectively, but their tombs had become identical in cultural content.
Wu Xianzhu et al., Discovery and Study of Human Fossils in the Three Gorges Region, China
KEY WORDS: Three Gorges region human fossils discovery and study
ABSTRACT: In the Three Gorges region of China, archaeology has discovered eight localities of human fossils, which preserve abundant remains of fossil man that cover the whole Pleistocene, including not only members of the Eurasian early human genus dating from about 2,000,000 BP, but also those of the late Homo sapiens going back to 10,000 BP. These data have very important academic significance to researching into the origin and evolution of Homo erectus, early Homo sapiens and late modern Homo sapiens. Nevertheless, as correspondent studies have not been made in depth, there remain many disputes in explaining related material. The objective summary and scientific planning of researches on fossil man in the Three Gorges region must be the key for making breakthroughs in the paleoanthropological study of the Three Gorges region.
Zheng Wei, Restudy of the Ritual Bronzes from High-ranking Aristocratic Tombs at the Turn from the Western Zhou to the Eastern Zhou
KEY WORDS: turn between the Western Zhou and the Eastern Zhou high-ranking aristocratic tombs ding-gui system serial dings system
ABSTRACT: Through a study of relatively typical tombs of high-ranking noblemen in the late Western Zhou and early Spring-and-Autumn periods, a regrouping of their funeral ritual bronzes and an analysis of the formation and evolution of each group, it can be concluded that it was the period when the ding-gui system and the serial dings system coexisted with the former declining while the latter rising. In the Western Zhou, the ding-gui system was stable on the whole, whereas various types of bronzes centered on serial dings, after their differentiation from the bronze aggregate of the ding-gui system, made a rapid development, came gradually into maturity and formed various groups of the serial dings system in the later Western Zhou period, their kernel combination of vessels keeping a rather steady condition for quite a long time thereafter.
Su Kui, A Study of the Bronze Mirror Inscription “其师命长”
KEY WORDS: mirror with figures of immortals in three sections mirror inscription “其师命长” Wudoumi Taoism 五斗米道 (Five-dou-of- rice Taoism)
ABSTRACT: Cliff Tomb 1 at Hejiashan in Mianyang, Sichuan yielded a late Eastern Han period bronze mirror with figures of immortals and the inscription “其师命长.” According to some scholars, the character “师” refers to priests of Wudoumi Taoism 五斗米道 (Five-dou-of-rice Taoism), and the mirror may have been a Taoist instrument. However, based on the results of an all-round examination of the mirrors coming from the Eastern Han to the Six Dynasties period, including a grammatical study of their inscription “其师命长,” as well as a investigation of their date, prevailing region and typological attribution, it can be preliminarily concluded that the “师” must refer to the mirror making master rather than any priests of Wudoumi Taoism in the Shu region. As for the nature of the mirror under discussion, it is difficult to clarify for the time being whether this is a Taoist instrument.
Wang Zhongshu, Again on the Date and Tomb-owner of the Takamatsuzuka Tumulus of Japan
KEY WORDS: Takamatsuzuka Tumulus mirror decorated with marine mammals and grape vines Prince Osakabe
ABSTRACT: Approximately 30 years ago, the author of the present paper discovered that the funeral bronze mirror unearthed from the Takamatsuzuka Tumulus of Japan and called mirror decorated with marine mammals and grape vines is identical in size, shape and decoration with that from the Dugu Sizhen tomb in the eastern suburbs of the capital Chang’an of Tang China, and that the two objects are mirrors cast in the same mold in China. As Dugu Sizhen was buried in AD 698 according to his epitaph, it can be inferred that the mirror under discussion was taken to Japan by the seventh Japanese delegation to Tang China that entered the Tang Empire in 702 and returned to Japan in 704. Soon the mirror passed into the hand of Prince Osakabe for he was Premier of Japan. According to literal records, Prince Osakabe died in May 705, which provides an important clue for clarifying the date and tomb-owner of the Takamatsuzuka Tumulus. Up to now, the author has held the above view firmly and without any change. In the present paper, he reaffirms this understanding and criticizes someone’s so-called dissenting argument.
Chen Zhida, On the Date of the Eastward Export of Xinjiang Hotan Jade to the Hinterland
KEY WORDS: Xinjiang Hotan jade eastward export to the hinterland Yin-and-Zhou period
ABSTRACT: There are two major viewpoints in Chinese academic circles concerning the date of the eastward export of Xijiang Hotan jade to the hinterland. One of them believes that Hotan was an important source of raw jade in ancient China, especially in times after the Han Emperor Wudi opening the road to the Western Regions, but the question of when this eastward export was begun can not be solved for the time being. The other theory goes that Hotan jade was spread to the hinterland long before the Western Han period. According to available archaeological data, a number of Yin-and-Zhou tombs have yielded jades made of raw material from Hotan and other producing areas in Xinjiang, which suggests that as early as the Yin-and-Zhou period long before the road to the Western Region was opened, a lot of areas in China hinterland had imported jade from Hotan and many other places of Xinjiang. The objects made of Xinjiang jade unearthed from the Fu Hao tomb are far not the only evidence of this understanding.
Xing Xiaofeng et al., A Tone Test and Preliminary Study of the Jade and other Precious Stone Objects from the Lajia Site, Qingha
KEY WORDS: Lajia site Qijia culture jade and other precious stone objects tonetest
ABSTRACT: As early as remote antiquity, people got to know that jade and other precious stones can sound when beaten, which is recorded in documents of that time. A number of jades and other precious stone artifacts from the Lajia site were unearthed in pairs or other groups. A modern scientific tone test of these finds and jade artifacts of Qijia culture unearthed from Qinghai indicates that they correspond to some musicological principles and so may have had certain music-performing function. The re-understanding of ancient jades from this new angle of view provides certain evidence for researching into the origin and development of ancient ritual and musical civilization. Moreover, it furnishes us with clues to revealing the relationship between related cultures.